Ink removing contrivance for printing machines



Dec. 22, 1931.

w. J PIRIE 1,837,672

INK REMOVING CONTRIVANCE FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 6, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 "Dec. 22, 1931.v FIRE 1,837,672

INK REMOVING CONTRIVANCE FOR PRINTING MACHINES Filed Dec. 26, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 22, 1931 UNETEEE STATES WILLIAM JAMES PIRIE, OF EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND INK REMOVING CONTRIVANCE FOR PRINTING MACHINES Application filed December 26, 1929, Serial No. 416,409, and in Great Britain May 31, 1929.

In order to facilitate the removal of ink from the inking rollers of printing machines various contrivances have heretofore been proposed with the object of cleaning the rollers without removing them from the machine.

The aforesaid contrivances may be divided into two classes, namely those in which the ink is scraped from one of the rollers in the inking train and those in which the ink is wiped from one of the rollers. In contrivances of the former class which have been found more satisfactory in practice, a scraping blade is held in contact with a roller which revolvestowards or against the edge of the blade. Contrivances of the other class employ a flexible wiper or rubber strip which wipes the ink on the roller, the latter being revolved away from the edge of the wiper. The solvent used for thinning the ink has a deteriorating effect on the wiper if made of rubber.

In contrivances of the scraper type, the suggestion has been made to mount the scraping blade so that it is held in radial contact with one of the soft or composition rolls or the inking train, but such an arrangement is not satisfactory as the blade damages the resilient surface of the composition roll. It has also been proposed tomount a sharpedged blade in contact with one of the metal rolls'and at an angle to it so as to strip the ink from the metal roll, but in such case a stitf or rigid blade is employed clamped between top and bottom clampingplates so as to protrude from them, and means are provided for adjusting the protrusion of the blade from said clamping plates in order to adjust the parallelism of its edge to the axis of the roll. Means are also provided for adjusting the scraping blade into and out of its operative position. The ink scraped off by the blade flows by gravity into a trough provided to receive the ink. A suggestion has also been made that one of the inking rolls should be scraped by a scraping blade which is unitary with suction means for withdrawing the ink removed by the blade.

The present invention relates to contrivances for removing the ink from the inking rollers by the scraping action of a blade held in contact with one of the metal rolls of the inking train.

It is preferable that the scraping blade should be in contact with a positively driven or gear-driven metal roll as the use of a thin- 1 ning agent for thinning the ink tends to cause a friction-driven roll to slip and cease rotation if coacting with a scraping blade.

The present invention has for its object to provide such an ink removing contrivance where a correctly rotating gear'driven metal roll is not conveniently accessible in the inking train of the machine. The present in vention contemplates the employment of a flexible blade, the edge of which is resiliently pressed against the surface of a gear driven auxiliary metal roller revolving in the proper direction for cooperation with the scraping blade, said auxiliary roller being provided in a train of auxiliary composition and steel rollers provided with suitable gearing for rotating the auxiliary metal roller during the removal of the ink.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, reference is hereinafter made to the accompanying drawings, where on Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the adaptation of my invention to the inking train of a printing machine. Fig. 2 is an end View partly in section showing one arrangement of the auxiliary train of rollers and Fig. 3 is a partial elevation of the construotion shown in Fig. 2. Figs. 4 and 5 are views corresponding to Figs. 2 and 8 illustrating an alternative form of the appliance.

As already stated it is desirable that the scraping blade should be in contact with a gear driven metal roller and for this purpose I provide an auxiliary unit consisting of a train of auxiliary composition and steel rollers and suitable gearing in order to provide a conveniently accessible gear driven metal roll with which the scraping blade can cooperate. The said auxiliary rollers may form a permanent part of the inking apparatus of the printing machine and remain so while the scraping blade is movable into and out of operative position.

In some cases, the rollers of the auxiliary unit will require to be driven from an inking roller which does not run in stationary bearings on the printing machine, but partly rides on neighbouring rollers. Provision must therefore be made to ensure good contact at all times between the rollers of the auxiliary unit and such a floating roller and it is desirable that the weight of the auxiliary rollers should not cause them to press upon one another. For this purpose the auxiliary unit is supported in such a manner that the contactof the auxiliary train of) rollers with the floating roller is adjust a le.

If it isdesired that the auxiliary rollers should form a permanent part ofthe inking apparatus of the machine, they cannot be. directly gear driven, because this would cause a streaky effect in the distribution of the ink to the printing surface and provision must therefore be made for the auxiliary rollers to be driven by friction from the ink ing rollers of the machine during the printing operation, while provision must be made for the auxiliary metal roller which cooper ates with the scraping blade to be ge ar-driven during the process of washing-up the inking rollers.

In the accompanying drawings the method of mounting such a unit is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1. I

An auxiliary train of rollers 1, 2 and 3 is mounted between end plates 4. A flexible metal scraping blade C, preferably of steel, slightly longer than the roller 3, is'fixed to a bar D of angle section which is supported on a rod E fixed ateach end in the end plates 4. Spring steel fingers F are mounted on a shaft G which is rotatably mounted at its ends in the end plates 4:. An ink trough or receptacle H is supported under the rear edge of the blade C by brackets I which are fixed to the'rod E. The trough H is longer than the'blade C and is of sufiicient capacity to remove all the ink removed by the scraping blade C from the roller 3. I

- When not in use for removing ink from the roller 3, the steel blade is lifted by rocking the bar D upon therod E sufficiently to bring the edge of the blade out of contact with the roller 3, the blade being retained in that position by a suitable catch, such a spring pin K adapted to engage beneath the angle bar D when tl e latter is tilted. On retracting the pin K from underneath the bar D, the scraping blade C will fall by gravity into contact with the roller 3.

The shaft G turns with a lever M which can be retained in one of two positions by a spring blade 0. The spring fingers F are movable along the shaft G and can be fixed in any desired position by means of bolts or other suitable fastenings 42, so that they can be set in any desired position in order that any desired local adjustment may be given to the blade.

The spring fingers F do not require adjustment after the blade is once set except where a new blade is fitted to replace a worn blade. The blade when in use is kept true to the surface of the inking roller by the spring fingers F and is kept sharp by the rubbing or sharpening action of the contact of the metal roll with the edge of the blade when the ink removing apparatus is in action.

The blade with the bar D can be lifted bodily off the rod E and readily removed as it is not secured in any way to the rod E but merely rests thereon and is supported in its inclined position by the spring pin K.

The trough is also readily removable being provided with. end pins 71. which fit in correspondingly shaped notches z in the fixed brackets'I. Moreover the blade does not re quire re-adjustment when replaced on the rod E as it automatically takes up its previously adjusted position when the spring fingers F are brought into action. This is an advantage as its permits of the blade being frequently removed for cleaning purposes.

The side frames 4 together with their connecting bars, the train of rollers 1, 2 and 3 and the scraping mechanism, together form acom-v plete unit which may be carried, as shown in Fig. 1, by rods 5 pivoted at 6 to the frame of the printing machine or any other convenient part so that, when not in use, the cleaning unit can be swung upwards or away from the inking rollers of the machine and retained there by hooks 7 or other convenient means- 10a,a ratchet whee-l 11 on the shaft 10 being engaged by a pawl 12. Ha ratchet wheel is provided at each end of shaft 10, the pawls 12 may be connected by a rod 13 for simultaneous operation, the pawls 12 being disengaged from the ratchet wheels to lower the auxiliary unit by raising an arm 14; projecting from rod 13.

Figs. 2 and 3 show in further detail an auxiliary unit which can be used for example where the bottom roller 1 of the unit has to be located between two inking rollers (not shown) in frictional contact with a floating gear-driven inking roller 15. Figs. 4 and 5 show a simpler form of a'uxiliary unit which can be used in cases where it is possible for the bottom roller 1 of the unit to make contact witha gear-driven inking roller 16 run- 18 on adjustable screws or feet 17 fixed into i the frame of the printing machine. The screws engage in slots in the end plates of the unit in order to steady the unit laterally.

Alternatively the screws or feet 17 may be fixed in the end plates of the unit and engage slots in the frame of the printing machine.

The screws 17 are adjusted until the bottom roller 1 of the unit is low enough to give good contact with the gear-driven inking roller 15 on the printing machine. The roller 1 is supported from the axle of the roller 2 by links 19 at each end. Both the rollers 1 and 2 are composition rollers. The links 19 are adjustable in length by means of a capstan nut 20 engaging right and left-hand screw threads on the two ends of the link 19. The distance between the rollers 1 and 2 can thus be adjusted. Roller 2 is mounted in sliding bushes 21 which slide in the end frames 4 of the unit and are adjustable by means of screws 22 and locknuts 23 until the roller 2 makes good contact with the metal roller 3 mounted in fixed bearings. Springs 24 engage the ends of the axle of roller 1 in order to ensure good contact between the rollers 1 and 15.

The rollers 1 and 2 are driven by friction from the roller 15, but upon the axles of the rollers 1 and 2 are freely mounted gear wheels 25 and 26 respectively for transmitting motion from a gear wheel 27 on the axle of roller 15 to a gear wheel 28 on the spindle of roller 3 without interfering with the free motion of rollers 1 and 2. The gear wheel 28 is also free to revolve independently of roller 3 until a clutch element on the gear wheel 28 engages aclutch element 28a slidably keyed on the spindle of the roller 3 and operated by a clutch fork 29 against the action of a spring 30. When it is desired to clean the inking rollers, the clutch fork 29 is released and the spring 30 causes the clutch element 28a to engage the gear wheel 28, whereupon the gear wheel 28 positively drives the metal roller 3 so that a positive drive is obtained when washing-up. When not washing-up, the clutch is disengaged, the blade C is tilted clear of the roller 3and the rollers are then free to rotate by friction during the printing operation. When required, the unit may be raised clear of the inking rollers of the ma chine by means of the ratchet and pawl mech anism described with reference to Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate a modified construction of auxiliary unit. In this example,

16 indicates one of the inking rollers of the printing machine and 31 and 32 are'two gear wheels mounted on short spindles carried by The spindle of the roller 3 supports a freely rotatable gear wheel 34 adapted to be coupled to the spindle of roller 3 by means of a clutch 35, spring 36 and clutch fork 37 asdescribed with reference to F igs. 2 and 3. The composition rollers land 2 are'adjustable in slotted hearings or cups 38 and 39 respectively and rely for contact upon their own weight and the action of springs'40 engaging the ends of the spindles of the rollers land 2 and attached to the side frame 4 of the unit. The method of operation is similar to that described with reference to Figs. 2 and 3.

The flexible scraping blade in conjunction with the spaced pressing members is superior to a rigid blade as it enables any undue wear that may take place along the length of the edgeof the blade to be immediately corrected by moving one of the spring pressing mem bers along'tothe point of correction and adjusting it so that it will apply sufficient pressure to the edge of the scraping blade at that point to bring the worn point of the scraping edge once again into contact with the roll.

' It will be noted that the roller 3 must revolve in the direction of the'arrow against or towards the scraping blade C during the ink removing or washing-up process.

Although my invention is primarily intended for cleaning the inking rolls of the machine when the printing process has been stopped and the supply of ink to the inking rollers has been interrupted, in order that the colour of the. printing may be changed,

the apparatus may also be used for the process of sheeting-off, i. e. removing surplus ink during the printingprocess, without the use of any ink solvent, this sheeting-off operation being desirable in certain cases in order '1 to restrict the supply of ink to the printing surface when matching up colours on making ready. The slightest change in shade of ink can be effected successfully by sheeting-off with this apparatus.

Claims: r

1. An ink roller cleaning device for the inking train of a printing machine,- comprising an auxiliary train of contacting compositionand metal rollers one of said composition rollers frictionally engaging and being driven from one of the inking rollers of the printing machine during the printing process, gearing for positively driving one of the auxiliary metal rollers from the inking apparatus of the machine during the washingup operation, and a scraping blade in operative relationship with the said gear driven metal roller.

2.v The combination with the inking train 1 of a printing machine, of an auxiliary train of rollers frictionally driven from one of the inking rollers of the printing machine during the printing process, gearingofor positively driving one of said auxiliary rollers from the inking train of the machine durlng the washing-up operation, a scraping blade 7 in operative relationship with the gear driven auxiliary roller, and a plurality of spaced pressing members distributed along the blade for resiliently pressing the edge of said 7 blade into contact with the roller.

3. Apparatus as specified in claim 2,

wherein the auxiliary train of rollers remains in constant operation with the inking rollers of the machine while the scraping blade is movable into and out of its operative position.

4. The combination with the inking train of a printing'machine, of a frame movable able. pressing members mounted in said frame for maintaining sald blade in resilient contact with the roller.

Signed at Edinburgh in the county of Midlothian and United Kingdom this 29th da of November, A. D. 1929.

WILLIAM JAMES PIRIE.

towards and away from the inkingrollers i ship with one of the,rollers of said auxiliary train of rollers.

5. The combination with the inking train of a printing machine, of a frame movable towards and away from the inking rollers of the machine, an auxiliary train of composition and metal rollers mounted in said frame in frictional contact with each 7 other, one of said rollers being adapted to be driven by frictional contact with one of the inking rolls of the machine, gearing for positively driving one of the metal rollers of the auxiliary train of rollers from the inking train of the machine, a clutch for disconnecting the positive drive to said metal roller, and a scraping blade cooperating with said positively driven metal roller.

6. In combination with the inking train of a printing machine, a frame consisting of end plates connected by stay bars, means for suspending said frame above the inking train of the machine and for raising and lowering said frame, a series of rollers mounted in said frame in frictional contact with each other, the lowermost of said rollersbeing 

